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Blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder and she smiled as she drew in another bite of her breakfast. “My doctor put me on medication, too. But mine’s for the nausea. It’s working wonders.”
“She hasn’t stopped eating since she’s taken it,” Slade rushed in. “I had to order everything on the menu because she couldn’t make up her mind.” The teasing smile had her blushing, but it didn’t stop him from nudging her small plate of fruit closer. The adoration he had on his face was as clear as day. And the dark circles were gone. Apparently, he’d finally gotten some sleep.
“Slade just knew you two would be here and he wanted to make sure you both ate before he started in with his plan.” Mary raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to her plate. I felt my back stiffen as he shot his wife a look that almost said she’d spoiled some underlying secret.
Lily shifted in her chair, obviously picking up what I had. “What plan?”
“Not a plan,” Slade ground out. “It’s more…errands, if anything.”
“Errands?” I asked. “What sort of errands?”
The impatience was there. He was hiding something.
“You know, just the regular stuff.”
“Slade?” Lily cocked her head to the side. “You’re up to no good. I know you.”
“Bullshit.” He shook his head. “Fine, if you want to know, Brace told me Zain mentioned he was ditching the place across the street. I figured I’d help him relocate, being the generous brother that I am.”
She shook her head. “Now I’m calling bullshit. You never do anything without it benefitting you in some way. What are you up to?”
“Nothing. I have a friend in real estate. There are a few rentals I thought I’d take Zain to look at while you’re preparing for your appointments.” He walked over, picked up some papers, and handed them to me before returning to his seat. “Larry is meeting us in an hour, so we should probably be leaving soon.”
My eyes scanned over the first paper, stopping at the price. I immediately shot my gaze up to him. The stare that met me was a hard one. One that I hadn’t seen on his face before. I flipped to the second home. The third.
“Not going to work,” I said, flatly.
“I think it does.” Not once did he turn his attention away from me. Slowly, my head shook and I looked back down. Did he not hear what I said when I went into his office that day? If I wanted to be filthy rich, I would have taken my father’s funds before I offed him. I didn’t want dirty money. I hated that what I had in my account was tainted with bad deeds.
Again, I shook my head. “No. Unless you’re telling me that an entry-level employee can afford a ten thousand a month rental payment, I can’t go look at these homes.”
Slade’s jaw tightened and I let Lily take the papers from my hand.
“Petaluma!” Her head spun to her brother. “That’s a good hour commute, at least.” She flipped the paper. “Novato. Berkley. Freaking, Half Moon Bay? You can’t seriously think he’d want to live that far away.”
“It’s a beautiful area. I doubt Zain would mind the drive.”
A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. I may have played into his rules concerning Lily, but I wasn’t going to let him push me around. “No. I’ll stay in the city and find something I can afford. That is, if you still want to hire me. If not, just let me know now. I can easily put in applications while I go house hunting.”
“With your fake name, Mr. Collins? Or is it, Cook? Which one are you going to choose?”
My eyes narrowed and I held my clenched fists in my lap. Whatever the hell was going on, I didn’t like it. What had happened to the sincere man I’d spoken to on the phone? The one that was grateful to me for bringing his sister back?
“I have a reason to know if you’re going to want to be with my sister,” he went on. “I mean, at least give me that if you won’t take me up on the house listings.”
Lily’s fingertips were white as she pressed them into the table. My hand settled on her thigh and I leaned in closer toward him…and her. “Collins will do just fine. I appreciate you going out of your way to get me a place, but with Lily’s nightmares, I’ll be staying close.”
“Very close,” she stressed. “Besides, I’m helping Zain pick out a place. And I’m decorating.” The smile she threw off had me mirroring it. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be taking care of that now before Chuck arrives.”
I stood and she followed. An array of expressions played across Slade’s face before annoyance took the prominent role. Whatever he was up to, I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. It didn’t look good and I didn’t want things to go south now that we were almost to where we needed to be. And I’d be damned if he tried to keep me away from her now.
The sound of Lily’s heels clicked against the floor while we headed for the entrance. Slade’s voice boomed from behind.
“Be careful and take Marcio with you. We don’t know if it’s safe yet.”
Was that his problem? He didn’t want Lily around me in public because he feared something bad was going to happen again? I calmed the earlier anger and nodded.
He had every right to worry. After all, I still hadn’t taken care of my other family.
